Non-Fiction Reading response

The article, The Ivory War by Patricia Smith, is about elephants being killed for their tusks. Thousands of elephants are killed for their ivory. Poachers shoot the elephant, take their tusks, and just leaves the body lying there. In the article it states, “Some experts say that if nothing done to stop the slaughter, African elephants could on the road to extinction.”

            The author wants me to think that this is a bad idea. I feel that this is a horrible thing that these people are doing to the elephants. A person from the Wildlife Conservation Society, an ecologist, and Wu Shaohua were quoted in this article. Cristian Samper (Wildlife Conservation Society) and Andrew Dobson (ecologist) were both on the same boat. They feel like killing elephants for their tusks is a bad idea. But, Wu Shaohua says, “Love for ivory is in our blood.” He is saying that it’s hard for him not to love the ivory so much.

            This article makes me wonder why people continue to kill elephants. This is making them an endangered species. I would like to further research if there is anything being done to stop this.

Reading Response on a Poem

Readers may think that poetry might not have a message the author wants to get across. The author of the poem, “Photography” by Nikki Giovanni wants readers to see how beautiful nature is and love it.

            The author of the poem wants us to see how beautiful nature is. For example in the poem it says, “the eye we are told/ is a camera/ but the film is the heart not the brain” (Giovanni 1-4). This shows that the author wants us to think that nature is a big beautiful picture and that we should save it in our hearts. The author also wants us to feel it with our hearts and not just see the amazing view.

            Another example from the poem, “Watching the red sun/ into the ocean/ one thinks of the beauty fire brings…” (Giovanni 23-25). This shows that even the most dangerous things can be beautiful. People attach fire to being something harmful, which it is, but fire can have another meaning. Not just danger but beauty.

            After reading this poem, I realized that nature is beautiful. Even the most dangerous things can be beautiful. Nature is one big picture that we just have look at differently in different cases.

Revised Reading Response

Nineteen Minutes

Boom! Boom! Shots were fired at Sterling High School. In my independent reading book, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, a school shooting occurred at Sterling High School. I’m not so far into the book yet but, this shooting happened and it made me wonder, how does a school shooting affect people?  Will this make people uncomfortable everywhere they go?

In the book, many people were wounded or even found dead in the school after the incident. I feel that after this whole problem, the students and staff at Sterling High won’t feel safe, knowing that you don’t really know what is running through anybody’s head.  Peter Houghton’s mom said the same thing. She said that everything was just fine and that she would have never suspected this. This also made me wonder, how does Peter’s mom feel about this? How will everyone else react towards her? In the book, one of the detectives said, “She didn’t look like a person who’d created a monster,” (Picoult, 53). This shows how people are feeling towards her or that people will be giving her mean looks for giving birth to a son that was shooting in the school. But, who knew that was going to happen that day? No one knew, not even his mom.

The school shooting made me wonder if Peter was bullied in school. Did he hate somebody in the school so much that this incident occurred? On page 57, it stated, “He’s the only victim that’s been shot twice. Once in the gut, once in the head.” What did this person do to Peter that he was the only one shot twice? So many questions were flying through my head when I read this. Peter must have had something against him, or hated this him most of all.

To sum it up, an incident like this affects everyone that was there or lost loved ones. In the book, everyone was affected in a way, even the shooters mother. Even still lots of questions run through my head. What made Peter decide to do this? 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X Reading Response

Racism is a social issue that effected people back then and it still happens today. In the book, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” as told to Alex Haley, it shows how racism affected his life in many ways.  In the book it shows how black people were ignored, hurt, and treated unfairly.

            In the autobiography it shows, how Malcolm X and his family had to move around a lot because it wasn’t safe for him and his family to be in a certain neighborhood. For example, on page 3 it stated, “Ku Klux Klan riders galloped up to our home…Surrounding the house, brandishing their shotguns and rifles…the Klansmen finally spurred their horses and galloped around the house, shattering every window pane with their gun butts.” This quote shows how it wasn’t safe for his family in some areas because of the Ku Klux Klan or other violent people. This is just one of not being treated fairly.

            Malcolm X and his family were also ignored and treated unfairly in the book. On the bottom of page 5 and the top of page 6 it stated, “My father had shouted and shot at the two white men who had set the fire and were running away. Our home was burning down around us… I remember we were outside in the night in our underwear, crying and yelling our heads off. The white police and firemen came and stood around watching as the house burned down to the ground.” This shows that Malcolm X and his family were treated unfairly and how they were ignored. The firemen could have easily just helped them but, instead they just stood there and watched.

            All in all, racism affected Malcolm X and his family in ways that could have hurt him and probably did. Racism effected Malcolm X’s life from when he was born and to his untimely death.

Works Cited

Works Cited

Gurdon, Meghan C. "Darkness Too Visible." (2011): n. pag. Print.

Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.

Second draft

“Like magic, a mirror and razor blade appeared. ‘You’re gonna love it. You’ll see.’ I watched him pour powder, yellowish white. ‘It will take you to heaven.’ Used the blade to chop the chunks fine, draw two crooked lines.” This is just one example of why the book, Crank by Ellen Hopkins, should be banned from middle school libraries. The book Crank is about a girl named Kristina, who does things that will change her life forever. Like taking drugs and doing other sexual things for the first time. Kids should not be reading about these topics at such a young age. The book Crank should be banned from middle school libraries because; there is graphic sexual content and drug use in the book.

            The book Crank should be banned from middle school libraries because, the sexual content in this book is brought up a lot and is also very graphic. For example , in the book it explains, “ Covered my mouth , rough, held my arms , strong , ripped my clothes, vicious , … Buttons burst , zippers opened , I closed my eyes , braced for the pain.”(Hopkins 114). This part of the text explains to the reader that Kristina is getting raped. I feel that this is a very serious topic, but also an inappropriate one. Also in the book it states, “And then he took my hand, “Put it right there.” Showed me how to make things right. “Yes, just like that.” For him. But what about me?”(Hopkins 168) In this part of the text, something sexual is clearly going on . Kristina is a bad influence on kids reading this book because she is making it seem like its ok to do the things she is doing.

            Another reason why Crank should be banned is because of the drug use in the book. For example in the book it writes, “He pulled a bindle from his pocket, tapped the sparkly powder inside. “Cooked up fresh yesterday.”  Mother Kristina said no. The monster stormed Bree’s door.”(Hopkins 161). This part of the text shows the use of drugs in the book. In other parts of the book, Kristina has been taking drugs and she was explaining how the drug makes her feel inside. In the article, Darkness Too Visible by Meghan Gurdon, states, “These books deal with topics kids shouldn’t have to deal with.” Kids shouldn’t have to read about issues like drugs, because things like this make the world seem cruel. Kids shouldn’t being seeing the world that way at a young age.

            Some people might say that, topics like this happen in real life and those kids can learn from these topics. But, in the article it states, “If books show us the world, teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is.”(Gurdon 1) This part of the text states that yes, these books show us how the outside world is but, shows us the dark side of it. In books like Crank, it shows us how life is with the effect of drug or sexual situations.

            All in all, the book Crank should be banned from middle school libraries because,  Kristina is a bad influence to kids and the book is graphic and explains situations kids shouldn’t know about yet. Books like this can negatively affect children. This book contains issues older people go through, and kids shouldn’t have to worry about drugs or anything else related to the topics in Crank.